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takyon writes:

Hawaii will ban the sale of sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate, which have been found to be toxic to coral and algae. The ban would take effect in 2021, and wouldn't apply to prescription sunscreens, online purchases, or sunscreen brought from out of state.

Hawaii bans sunscreens with chemicals that damage coral reefs, but Australia reluctant to follow

But there is far less enthusiasm for a similar ban in Australia, with some experts questioning the evidence behind Hawaii's decision. [...] Hawaii's decision was partly based on a report from 2015.

[...] "It's still a matter of balancing our planet health with human health when we know that two out of three Australians will develop skin cancer in their lifetime," Cancer Council Australia CEO Sanchia Aranda said.

Professor Aranda said there was still no conclusive scientific evidence the chemicals caused coral bleaching. "If there was evidence for marine damage strongly and the TGA, who regulates sunscreen and the chemicals that go into sunscreen, believed that it was harmful, then we would also seek to support that," she said.

2015 study reported at UCF and NPR.

Toxicopathological Effects of the Sunscreen UV Filter, Oxybenzone (Benzophenone-3), on Coral Planulae and Cultured Primary Cells and Its Environmental Contamination in Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands (DOI: 10.1007/s00244-015-0227-7) (DX)

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